Texas shooting suspect was having drinks with victims before he killed six, survivor says

DALLAS — The lone survivor of an attack that left a former Maine resident and five others dead at an East Texas campsite told authorities that the suspect had drinks with the victims before pulling a gun and firing on them, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday.

William Hudson, 33, was drinking with the group Saturday when he accompanied four of them – including a young boy – into the surrounding woods, according to the warrant provided by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Carl Johnson, formerly of Maine The Associated Press

This photo provided by Beverly Woodruff shows, from left, Hannah Johnson, her son Kade Johnson and Thomas Kamp. William Hudson, who is charged in the killings of six people including Hannah Johnson, Kade Johnson and Kamp, at a Texas campsite had befriended the group and helped dislodge one of their vehicles from mud, a sheriff said Tuesday.
Beverly Woodruff via AP

Cynthia Johnson told sheriff’s deputies that she heard gunshots before Hudson returned alone to the campsite and chased her husband, Carl Johnson, and daughter, Hannah Johnson, into a travel camper. She said she fled and hid in the woods but saw her husband fall on the steps of the camper, where Hudson shot him.

Cynthia Johnson waited until it appeared safe and made her way to a road and eventually called 911, the document said.

“Apparently (the killer) did not see her run away,” said Sheriff Greg Taylor. “She was able to hide, thank God.”

Surviving family members were left numb by the carnage, which Taylor likened to “a war movie.”

Carl and Cynthia Johnson had previously lived in Farmington, Maine, and both retired from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1999 before moving to Texas. Also killed in the shootings were Hannah Johnson, her 6-year-old son, Kade, her boyfriend, Thomas Kamp, and his two sons from a previous marriage, Nathan and Austin Kamp, both of California. The two families were on a weekend camping trip.

The bodies of the Kamps and the child were found in a nearby pond. Those of Carl Johnson and Hannah Johnson were found at the camper.

Authorities have said Hudson went to his mother’s home on an adjacent property after the shootings, and the warrant says deputies saw him through a door wearing bloodstained clothes. He barricaded himself inside before eventually surrendering.

The motive for the attack remains unclear. Taylor did not respond to a call for comment Wednesday.

But the ex-wife of one victim said Hudson may have been angry that the land where the families set up camp had been sold to her ex-husband.

Carina Kamp is the ex-wife of Thomas Kamp, who owned the reportedly disputed land in a rural area of Texas about 100 miles southeast of Dallas. Carina Kamp said her ex-husband recently purchased the land from Hudson’s father, who died shortly after the transaction.

Hudson was reportedly angry about the sale and about Thomas Kamp’s decision to fence off the property. Carina Kamp said her ex-husband found out over the weekend that Hudson had cut the lock and reclaimed the property.

“Mine and my family’s theory is that Mr. Hudson got mad that my husband bought the land and this (the murders) was something he planned on doing,” Carina Kamp told the Palestine Herald Press in Palestine, Texas.

Hudson was being held Wednesday at the Anderson County jail on a $2.5 million bond. His court-appointed attorney, Stephen Evans, said he couldn’t comment on the details of the investigation because he had just been assigned the case and not yet met with Hudson.

“This is very obviously going to be a long, hard journey and we have a lot of work to do,” Evans said.

Previous information provided by Sheriff Taylor, along with details from the warrant, paint a portrait of Hudson as a seemingly friendly man before he turned on the blended family.

Earlier Saturday, Hudson drove a tractor over to the campsite to help the group pull out a vehicle that was stuck in mud, the warrant said. He returned later to share drinks.

Thomas Kamp purchased the land in August. Kamp and Hannah Johnson lived together in Midlothian, south of Dallas, with Johnson’s son. The families also were celebrating Nathan Kamp’s approaching 24th birthday.

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